According to President Nana Akufo-Addo, the various interventions outlined in the 2023 Budget presented by the Finance Minister will address the serious economic difficulties Ghanaians are currently facing.
The president stressed the need for the government to take some austere measures and step up efforts in domestic revenue mobilization in light of the challenges facing the nation during his speech at the 38th Farmers’ Day Celebration in Koforidua.
“The 2023 Budget, which the Minister of Finance presented to Parliament, aims to address these economic challenges by taking a number of extremely difficult but necessary actions. These measures include a debt operation to manage our concerns about the sustainability of our finances and debt.
“Debt sustainability concerns cannot be solved solely by debt operations. In order to improve revenue collection and rationalize spending, we are complementing the debt operations with fiscal adjustments in order to support long-term fiscal and debt sustainability. For this reason, the Finance Minister presented a number of revenue and spending proposals to Parliament for review and approval.
The president also emphasized the government’s self-imposed cost-cutting measures, which included, among other things, the continuation of the political appointees’ 30 percent salary cut and a review of some of its flagship programs.
As the nation navigates its challenges, President Akufo-Addo claimed that these measures will help reduce spending in order to achieve fiscal sustainability.
“The Government is proposing significant expenditure reduction measures, including the continuation of the 30% salary cut for the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, and political office holders, including those in state-owned enterprises; review of Government flagship programs to reflect relevance, promote efficiency, and ensure value for money.
There are other significant public expenditure measures that aim to show how the government is sharing the costs of tackling our current economic problems. These steps—which include cutting back on fuel allocation, and consignment size, postponing the creation of new government agencies, and outlawing the use of V8 vehicles—are intended to lower spending in the direction of fiscal sustainability.
The president stated, “I am optimistic that all these fiscal measures will go a long way to address the economic challenges, along with the debt operations and the implementation of key structural reforms to eliminate the structural bottlenecks in the economy outlined in the 2023 Budget.